How much for a refret?

mystixboi1

mystixboi1

Kick Henry Jackassowski
So I have a 1993 PRS Custom 22 that I adore. I noticed last night when I was cleaning the fretboard that the frets are starting to go. Especially on the first 3 frets. I know I could just get a fret level on those frets, but I was thinking of going for a full on refret with stainless steel frets.

I was thinking of sending to PRG… their refrets start at $450. I’m sure it will be more for stainless steel.

What is the average price of a stainless steel refret job?
 
It depends upon the guitar. My Gretsch Country Club cost $450 for a refret, whereas my Seagull acoustic cost $250, and my 60s Baja Tele cost $210. It depends upon how much of a hassle doing the re-fret will be (due to Japanese fret slot sizes being a little funky compared to other guitars, and the fact that the neck was bound, my Gretsch cost a fair amount more than the other ones to refret). The best thing to do, is get in touch with a luthier, or a guitar shop that says it can do refrets, and ask them to give you (at least) a rough estimate. Stainless fret wire is a pain to work on.
 
mystixboi1 said:
I just got an email back that PRS doesn't do stainless steel... bummer
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Check the Vintage Rocker / Birds and Moons forum. "Orkie" is the go-to refretter... and I think he would do EVO gold frets (harder than nickel silver, but not as hard or bright as stainless).
 
It will depend where you live too. Around here SS were ~400 but that was a few years ago so I will guess they would be more like $500 now but I haven't checked. I wouldn't be too worried about tone difference. Some people say there is a difference but I could not hear the difference when I changed my strat and based on clips posted no one else could either. I will probably get my acoustic redone with SS in the future and that might be different but on a electric I think the metal difference is going to be a minor impact on the tonal qualities...

Unless you have dog ears then :shrug:
 
baimun said:
Check the Vintage Rocker / Birds and Moons forum. "Orkie" is the go-to refretter... and I think he would do EVO gold frets (harder than nickel silver, but not as hard or bright as stainless).
Click to expand...

I don't buy into the claims of SS being any brighter, or harder on strings than nickel/silver. I've never broken a string at a fret on any guitar. And when you play open strings, the frets don't come into play anyway.

I've never done a n/s to ss refret, but the few guitars I own with ss frets don't really sound any different than the n/s fret guitars I own. The frets just feel silky smooth 10 years into playing them, rather than having grooves worn into them like my n/s fretted guitars.
 
$450 for a fret job... that sounds kinda outrageous, but then it is PRS. Does it have binding on the sides of the neck? My local tech isn't cheap but he does great work... he said to refret my Les Paul (which has the neck binding) would be about $350. An unbound neck is about a hundred less. I just had him do a light dressing on mine and it's fine. Will have to refret in a few years though. If your neck isn't bound then $450 seems kinda exorbitant.
 
I had a regret done on a neck a few years ago. It was 300 bucks, which included a run through the PLEK machine. Frets were standard material and the neck was unbound with a rosewood board.
 
The one thing I noticed about stainless steel frets is it became almost too easy to bend insanely. Like ponies on ice. But, worth it for the durability I'd think.
 
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